It’s no secret the White Sox are in full rebuild mode. What might not be so obvious is that a fair number of players aren’t all-in on the idea of tanking for the future.
Todd Frazier, one of the Sox’ many available trading chips, chimed in today from Glendale, Ariz., saying: “I don’t like that word rebuild. I talk about refueling.”
Expect this refueling stop to take some time on the South Side.
Our Rick Morrissey caught up with flame-throwing Michael Kopech at Sox camp. If you’re worried about the rebuild — and we’ve seen this before from the Sox with shaky results — Kopech presents hope for the future. Just fasten your seatbelt.
Across the valley in Mesa, our Gordon Wittenmyer asks if changing batteries can keep veteran left-hander Jon Lester charged. Lester’s former personal catcher, David Ross, has retired and the job of keeping runners honest with Lester on the mound now belongs to Willson Contreras.
Meanwhile, hard-throwing C.J. Edwards could be taking on an increased role in the Cubs’ revamped bullpen.
On Thursday, we detailed the prank former Cubs great Greg Maddux pulled on MVP Kris Bryant in Las Vegas. Today, Maddux is making the opposite of fake news, debuting as an assistant coach for the UNLV baseball team.
Finally, around the horn on Twitter:
Column: Some helpful words that Joe Maddon and Buck Showalter could say to their teams this spring. https://t.co/jUKBGksgMd +Notes/links.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) February 17, 2017
Good morning @whitesox fans! Happy 54th to #MichaelJordan @Jumpman23 the most famous @BhamBarons & Sox farmhand ever pic.twitter.com/8pj8RDi5HW
— SoxNerd (@SoxNerd) February 17, 2017
Happy 87th Birthday Roger Craig! 3x World Series Champ as a player with the 1955/'59 #Dodgers & '64 #STLCards - a member of the 1962 #Mets! pic.twitter.com/G7u8NLLQUD
— Baseball by BSmile (@BSmile) February 17, 2017
My column on Bart and story on RA -- and my fav column logo taken by @ACausi in Today's Post pic.twitter.com/pcgqE0ScSm
— Kevin Kernan (@AMBS_Kernan) February 17, 2017
Andrew McCutchen has played center field his entire MLB career, but says he wasn't asked about moving to right. https://t.co/VMKLsQUwLX
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 17, 2017